Hakone National Park

The Hakone National Park, known as the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, is the most incredible outdoor-excursion in Japan. With relaxing hot-springs, Lake Ashi, and of course, Mt. Fuji, The Hakone National Park is a nature-lover's paradise. Divided ...

Firstly the tour was great and well organised. Our guide Mr.Hiro was well behaved and tried his best to make the tour memorable. Though we could not view Mt.Fuji due to bad weather, my husband and I were able to enjoy the snow and our time in Hakone. We were well taken care of and the overall experience was enjoyable.

Room for improvement: Day 1: We felt that there could have been a few more sites or tourist attraction that could have been added. Whether Mt.Fuji can be viewed or not there was still time for other places that could have been included. Perhaps the return journey time by Shinkansen can be changed?? The lunch we had was delicious however it was not very fulfilling.

Day 2: We went around Hakone by ourselves as mentioned in the tour following a map given to us. However we felt that it would have been even better if we were given a little more info and a better plan to figure out the route.

Overall two thumbs up to you guys!! The snow, the bullet train ride, the stay was exceptional. We will choose Viator again but we hope that our suggestions will be taken into consideration.

The tour was awesome!! Our guide was great; he was very nice, funny, gave us a lot of information about the locations we were visiting as well as the sights we passed along the way. he also sang us the Mt. Fuji song in Japanese and English! We did so much in two days, and having it all organized for us was wonderful. We visited the Hakone Open Air Museum the 2nd day (free day) and it was amazing. Great tour! Great guide! Great price!

Fantastic day out. Although it took a little while to find the coach station (arrive in plenty of time) the organisation once we arrived was brilliant, and we were soon whisked off on our bus towards Fuji. Our guide, Take, was funny and engaging and knowledgeable - telling us about lots of things which would have passed us by if we'd been on our own. Views from the 5th Station at Fuji were excellent, the boat ride was cold but pretty and the sunset over Hakone was absolutely stunning - we've got some great photos! On the downside, we weren't much of a fan of the food... it was a bit fish-heavy. But then, that probably tells you more that we don't like traditional Japanese food much! Brilliant to have our first Shinkansen experience with a guide - made it much easier when we did our own train travel afterwards. Great trip, thanks!

Very friendly tourist guide and best experience at hakone, 5th stage Mt Fuji, cruise at lake ashi and finally breathtaking view of Mt Fuji and surroundings during cable car rides. A very great experience that remain in my mind forever.

Great although a slightly rushed trip at Hakone, but guide was excellent and entertaining ( 'Fish' ) .We had a glorious day at Mount Fuji , but I would advise buy your own lunch as plenty of alternative eating places at same rest stop.We took the option of staying at Lake Hakone ending our trip at Odawara , and waking up to a beautiful clear morning lake view at Hakone hotel ( the tour guide was kind enough to drop us off on the way back ) .Other travellers took option of returning to Tokyo by bullet train from Odawara .I would recommend the Hakone rail pass train from Tokyo and 2/3 days around lake Hakone ( train tram boat circuits ) if you can , however Viator was a great way to travel to Mount Fuji .We used our japan rail pass from Odawara the next day managing to squeeze in the volcano egg cooking experience , numerous cable cars and the train back to Odawara then onto Kyoto . Japan travel is so organised that every trip by boat tram cable car or train linked up seamlessly so no hanging about wasting time .The trip was well organised and our tour guide knowledgeable and relaxing .Well recommended

Our tour guide was fantastic, she made the long bus ride entertaining and educational. We were lucky, Mt. Fuji was visible! We had a lovely lunch and went on to a thrilling tram ride in Hakone and boat ride on Lake Ashi. It was a spectacular experience and I'm not one for group tours.

The guide (Harry) was very informative and knowledgeable, and helpful with giving us directions back from Hakone to Tokyo.

Our hotel (Prince Hakone) was spectacular, it was a great accommodation to relax and enjoy the quiet surroundings. Our room was facing the lake and some mountains in the background, a perfect sight to wake up to!

This is very interesting tour. Star early and very prompt. The bus ride was pleasant and there was wifi on the bus. We got to see Mt Fuji very clearly, as our tour guide said sometimes Fuji is famous to be shy. But we only short stop at Station 5. We need more time to explore. Hakone boat ride is also nice. Short but very interesting. The cable ride is also breathtaking. And the best of all, was the ride home to Tokyo with Shinkansen Bullet Train. Very interesting. Would like to do this again.....

Of the 3 Viator tours we did on our trip, this was the best. If you are staying at the Shinjuku Washington Hotel, there is a checking area in the lobby to walk you to the bus. The bus we had was nice and the AC was cool, which is important as our tour date was July 24 (90 deg F/70% humidity). The bus took us to the Hamamatsucho bus station where we boarded another bus to Mt. Fuji. Our tour guide was an expert on Mt. Fuji having been a hiking guide for 30+ yrs. His English was quite good and he regaled us with the history of Japan, working in the political and religious events which tied in nicely to Mt. Fuji's importance in Japanese society. We stopped every hour or for bathroom breaks, shopping, etc. We stopped first at the Mt. Fuji visitor center for a quick rest-stop before heading up the mountain. The sights were wonderful. We stopped at the 5th station where there is a small shopping village and had about 45 minutes of free time. From there we headed to lunch at a beautiful restaurant and had a wonderful lunch of tempura, rice miso soup and pickled veggies--we all left full. We proceeded to Lake Ashi and caught a 15 minute ferry to another shopping area where a gondola took us over Hakone--not to be missed! We returned to Shinjuku at approx. 8pm. However, a lightning storm moved in, lighting up the sky and soaking the area. We stayed in the air conditioned bus until it let up (slightly) which was really nice of the bus driver and tour guide. Note the bus did not drop-off at the hotels at the conclusion of the tour--it ended, rather, at Shinjuku station,
All in all, this was worth every penny and wouldn't hesitate to do it again. The lunch alone was $20-25 buck per person, not to mention the gondola and ferry rides. The ride was smooth and cool and the guide was great. One thing to note is they plan the itinerary out, so it is advised (strongly) to stick to the allotted times at each stop.

Mount Fuji and Hakone were shrouded in mist, although there were periods of sunshine during the day. Despite the limitations on the views of Fuji and Hakone, the trip was excellent, well organised and very enjoyable. Highly recommended.

This was an excellent tour! Our Tour Guide Kaori (Katy) was very knowledgeable, humorous, friendly, approachable and also efficient in keeping everyone to our time-table. When we visited Mt Fuji the Mountain was cloaked in cloud. However, as we left for our next destination some of the cloud did lift so Kaori and Driver San were very accommodating in stopping to the side of road to allow us to take some wonderful photo's. I enjoyed every part of the trip, especially visiting a Shinto temple, Lake Ashi, Hakone and travelling on the Shinkansen (Bullet train) back to Tokyo city. I would highly recommend this day trip as it is very well organised from the time of pick up from the hotel and the return trip to Tokyo. Arigatogosaimus!